Religion in China

The traditional religions of China are Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism.
Confucianism is not a religion, although some have tried to imbue it with rituals
and religious
qualities, but rather a philosophy and system of ethical conduct that since
the fifth century B.C.
has guided China’s society. Kong Fuzi (Confucius in Latinized form) is
honored in China as a
great sage of antiquity whose writings promoted peace and harmony and good morals
in family
life and society in general. Ritualized reverence for one’s ancestors,
sometimes referred to as
ancestor worship, has been a tradition in China since at least the Shang Dynasty
(1750–1040
B.C.).

Estimates of the number of adherents to various beliefs are difficult to establish;
as a percentage of the population, institutionalized religions, such as Christianity
and Islam, represent only about 4 percent and 2 percent of the population, respectively.
In 2005 the Chinese government acknowledged that there were an estimated 100
million adherents to various sects of Buddhism and some 9,500 and 16,000 temples
and monasteries, many maintained as cultural landmarks and tourist attractions.
The Buddhist Association of China was established in 1953 to oversee officially
sanctioned Buddhist activities. In 1998 there reportedly were 600 Daoist temples
and an unknown number of adherents in China. According to the U.S. Department
of State in 2005, approximately 8 percent of the population is Buddhist, approximately
1.5 percent is Muslim, an estimated 0.4 percent belongs to the government-sponsored
“patriotic” Catholic Church, an estimated 0.4 to 0.6 percent belongs
to the unofficial Vatican-affiliated Roman Catholic Church, and an estimated
1.2 to 1.5 percent is registered as Protestant. However, both Protestants and
Catholics also have large underground communities, possibly numbering as many
as 90 million.

Chinese government figures from 2004 estimate 20 million adherents of Islam
in China, but
unofficial estimates suggest a much higher total. Most adherents of Islam are
members of the
Uygur and Hui nationality people.

The Falun Dafa (Wheel of Law, also called Falun Gong) quasi-religious movement
based on
traditional Chinese qigong (deep-breathing exercises) and Daoist and Buddhist
practices and
beliefs was established in 1992 and claimed 70 million to 100 million practitioners
in China in
the late 1990s. Because of its perceived antigovernment activities, Falun Gong
was outlawed in
China in April 1999, and reportedly tens of thousands of its practitioners were
arrested and
sentenced to “reeducation through labor” or incarcerated in mental
hospitals. The constitution
grants citizens of the People’s Republic of China the freedom of religious
belief and maintains
that the state “protects normal religious activities,” but that
no one “may make use of religion to
engage in activities that disrupt public order, impair the health of citizens
or interfere with the
educational system of the state.”